Love In The Wrong Direction
by Reachabledreamz
Summary: To the outside world, they hated each other...but what happens behind closed doors?
1. Chapter 1

They burst into the hotel room frantically. Kissing each other like there was no tomorrow and loving the taste of each other's lips.

It had been a while since they had been able to do this, so they were taking full advantage of the once quiet hotel room.

It was now filled with small giggles that escaped her lips when they would take a small break from their loving kisses. You could almost hear the hunger they had for each other. They craved each other more than anything, so this moment was worth trading the world for.

Dolph lifted his petite brunette off of the ground and she immediately wrapped her arms and legs around him. He pushed her back against the wall, running his hands along her sides as they continued to share a passionate kiss.

"Bed," she muttered out, pointing over to the hotel bed, even though she knew he couldn't see where she was pointing.

AJ held on tighter as he sung them around and carried her over to the bed; hovering over her once he had gently placed her down right in the middle.

She looked him the eyes, threading her hands through his gorgeous blonde hair. He bit the corner of his lip, which drove her crazy, so she pulled him down, crashing their lips together.

The truth was…she loved this man…with all of her heart.

_Later:_

They laid there together in the hotel bed, their fingers intertwined, and the covers only covering up to their chests. It was a silence that overcame them, but it wasn't bad, so they let the silence be. 

Their hands measured up against each other and there was a significant difference in size. AJ had held his hands multiple times, but for some reason it made her giggle this time. 

Dolph leaned over a bit and kissed her forehead and she immediately stopped laughing. Anytime he kissed her on the forehead, it always meant something was bothering him. 

"Baby, what's wrong?" it almost came out as a whisper. If you weren't in the bed with them, you wouldn't have heard what she said, but Dolph heard her clearly. 

"Nothing, I'm just glad you're here now." his voice was almost as low as hers, except deeper. Something _was_ bothering him, but of course he wasn't going to put that burden on her. 

"I missed you." 

"I missed you more." 

Another silence filled the room and this time AJ could feel the tension rise. She knew her...she knew Dolph like the back of her hand, so something must be wrong with him. 

"Congratulations, Ziggy, you deserve that title more than anyone." 

Dolph glanced past her and over to the World Heavyweight Championship that laid on the desk in the room. A small sigh escaped his lips, "Thanks, babe."

He reflected on him winning the title and how the most important person in his life was there when it happened. What he didn't like to reflect on, was the moment he stepped backstage, he had to pretend he didn't even love her. 

"I'm glad you finally got your chance to shine...it was long overdue." 

"Yeah, I know." 

Dolph inched a little closer, placing his hand on her bare back and making them meet in the middle, their naked bodies creating a sudden heat that they both felt. He made sure that they were always close when they were together because who knew when this would happen again. 

AJ stared at him because their faces were only inches apart. Her head normally would be on his chest, but she wanted to look him in the eyes. She loved his crystal blue eyes...it was one of her favorite features about him...it's what made her fall for him. Other than his loving heart and his bright personality, his eyes were always so attractive to her. 

"Ziggy..." she started, but couldn't finish. She saw where this was going and she never liked this conversation, "I love you." 

"I love you too." 

She held back a few tears that were going to fall and hit the pillows surrounding them. This never went well when it came to him. They always got passed it, but this conversation always stung, "Baby, I love you with all my heart, you know that, right?" 

He gave her a half smile, kissing her lightly on the lips, "Yes, I know that."

"You know that I'll do anything for us, right?" 

"Yes, I know that too, babe, and you know I'll do the same." 

The tears slid down her face and onto the pillow. He kindly wiped them away, not bothering to say anything because he knew she wasn't done speaking, "You know John doesn't mean anything to me, right?" 

This caused him to breath out heavy. He knew the known Cenation leader didn't mean anything to her...well, he didn't anymore. 

"Dolph, you know he doesn't mean anything to me!" she choked on her tears and he hated to see her cry like this, so he wiped those tears too, kissing her with some needed passion. "Baby, I know it's been rough with us, but—" 

"Hey, hey, hey, don't do this, alright? We're _fine._..you can't feel bad about this, I'm doing the exact same thing." 

His voice stayed calm, so AJ decided to calm down as well, "It's just that I know you don't like John, and—" 

"You're saying that as though you _like_ Nikki." 

"You know I don't like her, Ziggy, don't go there."

He chuckled a bit, "Babe, how long have we been doing this?" 

"Almost a year..." 

"We've been sneaking around with each other for almost a year...there's no turning back now, right?" she nodded, "I love you, you love me, it's just complicated when it comes to the people we're technically supposed to be with." 

He was right...for almost a year; they had been sneaking around behind John and Nikki's backs, dating each other. They would go out on secret dates, and secret romantic trips, just the two of them...only one person knew about it, and that was Big E. The only reason he knew was because they had gotten sloppy one day at work and didn't lock Dolph's locker room door. 

"I want to smash her face anytime I see her, Dolph." she smiled at the thought. AJ hated Nikki just because she was _technically_ dating the man she loved. Before her and Dolph got together, they had no problems, but ever since her and Dolph had been together, she hated her guts...but of course, she didn't know that. 

"Don't smash her face, babe, you'll blow our cover." 

"You know I won't really do it, but I hate to see her touching all over you. She's so touchy-feely with you and I hate it, I just honestly _hate_ it." 

"Same with your little boyfriend, John. He always grabs you around that tiny waist of yours and I want to pound his face in. Nobody gets to hold you there except for me." 

He chuckled again, grabbing her waist and holding her. The warmth of her body hasn't left and he loved the sensation against his hand. 

"Do you think we'll eventually tell them?" She asked, measuring their hands again. 

"We have to...I'm not doing this with you for too much longer." His face was flushed, so she knew he was serious, "I can't stand to see you with him, and a year is enough." 

"I'm tired of it too, baby, I am." 

"I'm not going to spend our one year anniversary in a hotel that we've snuck off to. I'm not going to let this happen for too much longer...I love you, and I'm sure I love you way more than John, so we deserve each other." 

Now you may ask "why not just break up with them and just be together the right way?". The problem with that is...to the outside world, _they hate each other_. 

Sure, they had an on-screen relationship, but behind those curtains, they had to pretend they didn't know each other's weaknesses, or their favorite TV shows, or even their sweet spots. 

It was terrible, and it was no way for a relationship to be, but they made it work for the sake of loving each other. 

"John says we're not intimate anymore." She said with a giggle, "He said maybe marriage would solve our intimacy issues." 

He raised an eyebrow, and she pressed her lips together, "No! You are not sleeping with him!"

"Baby, no, calm down," she couldn't help but laugh at how angry he got, "you're the only one who's gotten any of _this_ in the last year, okay? You know that." 

"I know," he pouted, "I just hate the thought of him touching all over you how I do." 

"No one does that but you, Ziggy." She got a bit closer, "No one will ever do that, because I'm yours." 

"No you're not..." 

Silence came over them again and AJ just stared at him because he wasn't looking at her. They both hated that they weren't official. If anyone asked her what he was to her, she's replay "that jerk who I work with" and it wasn't a pleasant feeling saying that about someone you love. 

"If that's the case then you're not mine either." 

He finally looked at her, feeling his stomach knot up, "What are we even saying?" 

"I think we're saying it's about time we tell Nikki and John about us." 

"I agree..."

AJ intertwined their fingers again, loving their small amount of time together, "Do you remember how all of this started?"

"Yeah," he chuckled at the memory, "we were fighting in the locker room over something stupid and you leaned in to kiss me."

"That is not what happened!" she hit his chest and hugged onto him under the covers, "We were in the locker room fighting about you taking my cinnamon roll, and I punched you, you slammed me against the locker room wall, we stared at each other for about five minutes, we kissed, it went further, blah, blah, blah."

"You can't just 'blah, blah, blah' something like that, babe." He loved that she remembered all of that, "Do you remember the first time we slept together?"

AJ blushed, "I try not to remember that, Ziggy."

"It was the sexiest thing ever, you should remember."

"Baby, we pushed the two couches together in your locker room and did it on them."

"It was sexy."

"I'm not denying that, I'm just saying it's not something I'll tell our kids about."

Dolph was stunned that she said that, "What did you say?"

"Uh, nothing," she closed her eyes tight, wishing she never said it, "Um, I was just saying it wasn't all that nice, you know?"

"Babe—"

"Just forget that I said anything—"

"Don't take it back," he rushed saying that so she would hear him instead of going on her rant. It caught her attention and she stared at him with those big brown eyes, "Don't take it back." He repeated to her.

"W-What?"

"You said _our _kids…you want kids with me?"

"I mean, I've thought about it, it's something that I'd love for us to experience together, but it's not my top priority," she bit her lip, "you're my top priority."

"Awe, babe," he felt so special; "you're my top priority too."

"Don't act surprised, you know I love your little cute self."

"There is nothing little about me, babe." He winked and she scrunched up her face, "What? You know it's true."

"I know, but it sounds weird when you say it."

"You say it all the time."

She blushed again, kissing him to take the attention off of herself, "You showed me that I was right about that a little earlier."

He raised an eyebrow at her, smirking in the process, "Oh, so you liked that?"

"You know I like it when you get all aggressive and sexy."

"Would you like some more of that?"

"I believe I do."

He rolled onto her, "Soon we won't have to hide this."

AJ stared deep into his eyes, playing with his hair again, "I'm going to love that day."


	2. Chapter 2

AJ fluttered her eyes open, immediately being greeted by the bright sun that pierced through the hotel room windows. 

She groaned a bit, wiggling around until she felt a certain pair of strong arms around her. AJ hadn't realized that she hadn't left the hotel room that she and Dolph had shared the night before. 

She turned over, seeing his beautiful face. This is the face she loved to wake up to whenever she could. He was her real love, not John, and she wished she could shout it out to the world. 

It was amazing to her how warm he always was. Maybe it had to do with the fact that while she was sleep last night he slipped one of his shirts on her, or maybe it was still him. The little things he did made her love him. John never did loving things for her, and everything she craved for in their "relationship", she found with Dolph. 

She felt under the covers, feeling him only in his underwear, which she didn't have a problem with. She inched closer, feeling him waking up slightly. 

"Good morning, handsome." She whispered to him. 

"Good morning, gorgeous." 

"Waking up to you is amazing." For some reason she just kept whispering, "I love it almost as much as I love you." 

"Look at you...being all romantic early in the morning." 

She loved how deep his voice was early in the morning, "Baby, guess what?" 

"What?" 

_"I love you."  
_

"I love you more, babe." Dolph leaned over and kissed her, smiling through the entire kiss. "What's gotten into you? You're never this happy in the morning." 

"I don't know, I'm just taking advantage of the small time we have together. Now that you have the belt, you'll have to work more—" 

"Which means we'll be together more—" 

"But not as a couple, baby. You'll be doing your thing, I'll be doing mine, you'll have a match, you'll go to the signings—" 

"Babe, they're going to include you in all that, don't worry. We'll see each other all the time." 

She huffed, "But I want to hug and kiss you. I don't want to hate you anymore." 

Dolph hated to see her like this. She always took this "being a secret" thing the hardest at certain times, but they fought through it. "I know, I know, I want to do that too." 

"Are we really going to tell them soon?" 

"Of course, babe. Our one year anniversary will not be spent behind closed doors. It will be out in the public, where everyone in the world can see how much I love you." 

He was so sweet, "Really?" 

"Yes, I promise you that." 

It was a small silence and AJ ran her hands up and down his sides, breathing in his nature scent. She heard her phone ding, so she reached over and grabbed it, her face dropping when she saw it was John. 

_Hey, wonderful lady, where are you?  
_

She sat up and looked over at Dolph, who had read the message, "What should I say?" 

"Just tell him you're on a run." 

_On a run, what's up?  
_

Dolph sat up too, rubbing her thighs out of habit to try and calm her down. She always got nervous when this happened, scared they'd been caught. 

_I'm heading to Dolph's hotel room to congratulate him on his win last night; just wondering did you want to come with me.  
_

She froze and read the message out loud to Dolph, who was unusually calm about this. "Baby, this is serious! He'll be here any minute!" 

"Didn't you wear a jogging suit over here?" 

"What does that have to do with anything?" 

He rolled his eyes, sliding her down on her back, hovering over her. He kissed her lips briefly, moving down her neck and to her collar bone. He felt her breath quickening, which was exactly what he wanted.

"Dolph, this is not the time." her words were stuttered, but she managed to tell him. "Baby, I would love to right now, but my…whatever John is, is coming over to your hotel room."

Dolph didn't pay her any attention; he just kept doing what he wanted to do. He slid her shirt up, kissing her bare stomach, her breath now super uneven. He finally saw drips of sweat coming off her body and he smiled.

"There you go…" she looked at him confused, trying to get her breath back to normal, "Now you look like you've had a workout."

"You teased me like that so I could look like I was sweating?"

"Duh, you know I like to take my time, I'm not into quickies, babe."

"I know, baby, I know." She smiled, kissing him lightly before going over to her clothes that had been thrown on the floor. "I had so much fun, Ziggy."

"I did too," he slipped on some pants, "Next time we do this; hopefully it won't be in private. Everyone will know that I love you and you love me."

"I would love that." She smiled, walking over to him and pressing her hands against his bare chest. "Oh, but I was thinking since we're both traveling to Texas with Big E tomorrow, we could try this new restaurant that Kaitlyn told me about."

"Does she know about us?"

She sighed, "She knows that I don't really hate you, but she doesn't know about our relationship."

"Babe, you need to hurry up and leave."

"Are you rushing me?"

"Do you _want _John to find out about us this way?"

AJ rolled her eyes because he was right, "No, of course not."

"Alright then," he smiled, bringing her into a hug, "you'll see me in like 5 minutes, babe."

"I know, I know, it just won't be the same."

AJ soon left the room after a passionate kiss they shared that they most likely wouldn't share for a while, or at least until tomorrow. It didn't seem like a long time to most people, but when you're sneaking around, it felt like forever.

Dolph heard a knock on the door and smiled. Yes, he had just seen her minutes ago, but her face made his day better for some reason. He loved her…it was easy to see if you weren't blind. Nobody else knew and that's what bothered him. He wanted the world to know that the love of his life was the one and only AJ Lee.

"Oh, hey John, what are you doing here?" he had to act like he didn't know he was coming. He scanned his view and found his small brunette standing behind him with a huge smile on her face, but he groaned. "Why did you bring _her_?"

"Shut up, Dolph." The smile faded from her face because she knew John would look back at her. "I came here to be with my boyfriend."

"Well, what exactly are you and your _"boyfriend" _doing here?" Dolph directed his attention back to John who already looked irritated from their bickering.

"I came to talk to you about your championship."

"What about it?"

"Come on, Dolph, at least let us in."

"Ew, why does your thingy look all sweaty?" Dolph asked, referring to that sweaty glow AJ had."

"She just came from a run."

"Oh, well, when you come in, don't touch anything, alright?"

She just rolled her eyes at him, walking into the room behind John, slipping a small squeeze on him arm. He held in a chuckle, closing the door behind them and walking into the room.

"Dude, you celebrated pretty hard late, huh?"

Dolph was confused until he saw John hold up a black and pink laced bra. He almost choked on thin air, "Uh…yeah…she left…earlier though."

"Was she hot?"

"She was _to die_ _for_," he looked away, trying to get a small glance of AJ, who he saw hiding a blush, "She was smoking hot, dude. She was just right in all the right places, her smile was perfect, and she had those eyes that said 'come and get me'…it was great, dude."

"Sounds like you love her or something."

"Nah, I don't love her…she was just a good way to end my night."

"So has it sunk in yet that you're the champion?"

"No, not yet," he smiled over at his belt, "I'm just glad it's finally mine."

John noticed AJ staring at the belt and nudged her, "Babe, you're staring."

"John, let her stare, she loves staring at big things…"

John didn't understand, but AJ immediately knew the underlying dirtiness he was trying to slide in there. She loved his humor, but lately he had been getting pretty sloppy and sexual, so if it came down to it, he'd most likely be the reason they'd get caught.

"What are you talking about?"

He caught himself, "You know she's BFFs with Kaitlyn and she's jacked, so I'm saying she's used to being around big things."

"Oh, I guess."

"So did you just come here to sit around and look crazy or are we actually going to talk about something?"

John remembered the reason he was here, "Oh, yeah! Sorry, I was just coming by to talk about the championship."

"What about it?"

"Do you know who you want to feud with first?"

"John, I won the title last night, I came back to my hotel room, I got laid, and I woke up this morning happier than ever, I haven't had time to think about that kind of stuff yet."

John chuckled, placing his hand on AJ's thigh. She didn't bother to move it and Dolph almost lost his temper, but held it in because he knew he wasn't in the right environment to do so. Sooner or later he was just going to punch John in the face and tell him that AJ was his girl, and not his.

"Babe, what do you think about Dolph's win? You guys seemed unusually close last night when he won."

"What do you mean?"

"You guys were hugging in the ring, you kissed his cheek, you were jumping up and down when he won, I mean, you guys don't even like each other."

AJ rolled her eyes, "John, its called acting. The audience wanted to see the future power couple celebrate whenever he cashed in, so that's what we gave them."

"Dude, I barely want to kiss her and touch her every night, what makes you think we _wanted _to hug each other that long?"

"No, I'm not saying it like that; I'm just saying you guys finally looked like you didn't hate each other. Dolph, you're one of my friends and AJ, you're my girlfriend, so I want you two to get along."

"We're getting there, babe. I don't hate him, and I don't think he hates me, we just don't see eye to eye on a lot of things."

Dolph nodded his head, "Sure, I mean, yeah, she can be annoying sometimes, but she's tolerable."

"Am I sensing a break through?" John said with a smile.

"No." they both said in unison, shaking their heads rapidly. If John thought they were "friends" it would leave too much room for them to get caught, so this little ruse had to be kept up.

"Oh, come on, guys! You guys are acting like you're in high school or something."

"John, I tolerate her for you, but that's as far as its going to go."

"Agreed." AJ nodded her head, looking over at John who was smiling at her like crazy, "What?"

"I'm just happy that you and I are finally on the right track."

Dolph narrowed his eyes, listening carefully as AJ responded nervously, "Awe, babe—"

"Wait," John looked confused, "Why aren't you wearing your ring?"

_What ring? _Dolph wasn't aware of any ring.

"Oh, uh, I took it off for the match last night and just didn't put it back on. I forgot about it, it's just so new, you know? I'm not used to wearing it."

John seemed to calm down, "Well, where is it?"

"It's in my purse, back in my hotel room."

"It fits you perfectly, babe. I'm so happy that you're considering marriage for us."

Dolph froze. AJ could tell by the look on his face that this was going to cause problems. She hadn't told him about John proposing because this wasn't just something she could spring on him. She needed to tell him when the time was right, and last night when they were making love because he had won the title…that wasn't the right time.

"You…You guys are…getting married?"

"Well, AJ said she wanted to think about it and make sure that she was ready, but I think she's going to cave soon and realize we're perfect for each other." He smiled wide at her, scooting closer to her in the two chairs they were sitting in.

"You're _thinking _about it?" he asked, trying to hide his rage that was slowly but surely building up inside him.

"Yeah…uh…I just want to…make sure that I'm ready. I'm only 26, so I'm just making…sure." She barely could get out her words. She should have told him sooner, but it just didn't seem like the right time.

AJ couldn't decline John's proposal because that would be suspicious and she wasn't going to accept because her heart belonged to someone else. She just hoped he'd understand once they finally got the time to talk it out. But from how Dolph was glaring at her, it didn't seem like he would just "talk" to her.

"Well…um…congratulations…"

He couldn't be sincere with that…he just couldn't. How could she not tell him? How could she not tell him that she had been proposed to?

"I know you and AJ don't really get along, but would you come to the wedding if it does happen?"

His heart sank to the pit of his stomach, "Sure."

"Really, man? Thanks, it means a lot to me that even though you guys aren't okay, you'll still come."

Dolph put his head down, taking a moment to gather himself and his thoughts. When he looked back up, he looked directly at AJ, "I would love you go and support you guys."

AJ felt tears brewing in her eyes and John saw it, "Babe, what's wrong?"

"I'm just so overwhelmed with this, you know? I feel bad for stringing you along like this. I need to make a decision—"

"What did I tell you? I told you to take your time, right?"

She nodded and stood up, "Can we go?"

"Yeah sure," he stood up too and Dolph led them over to the door, "Congratulations, man, you deserve that title."

"Thanks."

They walked out and he shut the door, immediately feeling like crap. What the hell was he supposed to do now? The woman he loved was…was about to get married.

He heard a knock on the door and answered it, seeing it was AJ. He rolled his eyes, "What?"

"I forgot my headphones."

Dolph let her in, locking the door unconsciously because that's what they normally had to do when they were alone. "Did you find them?" his voice was cold and she immediately turned around, running over to him with pleading eyes.

"Baby, I was going to tell you, I swear!" her voice was squeaky from the tears that were about to pour down her face, "Baby, I swear!"

"Where's John?" he wanted to know, just in case he was out of the door.

"He went back to the hotel room, why?"

"If he was outside the door, you needed to be quieter."

Dolph walked around her, sitting on the edge of the bed, checking something on his phone; "Baby, I swear I was going to tell you!" she walked over to the bed, sitting next to him.

"I don't want to talk about this right now."

"We have to talk about it, Dolph."

"No we don't, because if John hadn't have brought it up, I still wouldn't have known." His voice was cold and she hated it.

"Dolph—"

"I understand why you said you'd think about it, but really? We've been doing this for almost a year and the one time where something could really destroy us, you don't want to tell me?"

"We were having such a great night and I didn't want to ruin it—"

"_This_ could ruin _us_! Screw the championship because you know you mean more to me than a stupid championship, so find another excuse!"

Dolph got up from the bed and walked away, but of course she followed, crying because she didn't want him mad at her, "Baby, I know I was wrong, but please don't let this change anything between us!"

"Let's just talk about this tomorrow, okay? I hate yelling at you so let's just—"

"No! No! No! I want you to yell at me, fight with me, do whatever you want, just don't let it change anything between us!"

"AJ," he couldn't find the correct words to say, "I need a night to just think about this, alright? I promise tomorrow while we're driving to Texas we'll talk about it, just…give me one night."

She broke down, letting every tear fall onto the carpet floor, "I love you so much, baby, I do."

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"


	3. Chapter 3

The night was cold for the both of them. AJ laid with John, trying her hardest to inch as far away from him as possible. She didn't love him, she loved Dolph, and that's who she wanted to be laying next to, be she ruined it. 

He was upset with her and she hated that. It made them sneaking around even harder because they needed to talk, but they never could. 

Time was of the essences because they had about two weeks until their anniversary, so they had to tell John and Nikki as soon as possible. 

There as a knock at the hotel room door and AJ found that the perfect opportunity to get away from John. 

"E? What are you doing here?" 

Big E stood in the doorway with a grin on his face; he obviously knew something he wasn't supposed to, "Oh, uh, Dolph sent me up here to get you." 

"Why?" 

"We're leaving now." 

AJ smacked herself in the forehead, "Oh, shoot, I got side tracked, but sure, can you help me with my bags?" 

She was in comfortable enough clothes to go on the road in, so she was fine. Big E carried all of her bags out of the room and into the hallways, "Are you going to say goodbye to John?" 

"I'll text him when I get in the car." E nodded and they headed to the car, "Who's driving?" 

"You know Dolph always has to drive when you and him are fighting." AJ snapped her head towards him, "You thought I didn't know?" 

"I, uh, I didn't know he told you." 

"He didn't have to. I went to his room earlier and he was all flustered, which usually means you guys got into an argument." 

They reached the car, but Dolph wasn't there yet, "How do you know it wasn't Nikki that made him mad?" 

"That man couldn't care less about that woman." Big E lifted her bags into the car, "It's so obvious that you're the one he loves, and he was pretty upset, so it had to be about you." 

"On a scale from one to ten, how upset is he?" 

"Probably a 6, but you know how he is I'm the morning, so once he wakes up a little more, he'll probably be a 4." 

She sighed, "I messed up."

"What did you do?" 

"John...proposed to me about three days ago—" 

"He what?!" 

She covered his mouth, widening her eyes, "Be quiet!" 

"Sorry," he cleared his throat, "but he proposed to you?" 

"Yes," she sighed again, "he proposed and I never found the chance to tell Dolph about it and when John came to his hotel room last night—" 

"After you guys had gotten your freak on?" 

She turned her lip to the side to hide a smile, "Shut up..." 

"You guys are disgusting." 

"He just won the title, E; I had to give him something." 

"Something as in a gold pen or a medal, not a sweaty love session." 

She laughed, leaning against the car for support, "I love him, but anyway, John was the one to tell him about the proposal and...I could just tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy." 

"How could he be happy? The woman he loves is about to get married—" 

"No I'm not!" she wanted to make that perfectly clear; "I am not marrying John." 

"Are you sure?" 

"I would never choose John over Dolph. I would never do that, and you know it." 

"I'm just saying, that's what it looks like. To Dolph, it probably looks like you were hiding it from him because you actually _want _to marry John." 

That broke her heart, "W-What? He thinks that?" 

"I'm guessing he does. What else would he be upset about?" 

AJ turned around and got into the passenger's seat. She needed to think about this. This was their usual seating when they drove together. Big E took the backseat because he usually slept, and Dolph and AJ took the front so they could talk and listen to music and different things like that. 

She bit on her nail, thinking about the previous night. He looked hurt that she hadn't told him, which made complete sense if what Big E had told her was correct. She loved him, and only him...was he doubting that now?

_  
'I need to talk to you once we get to Texas, it's important, meet me in the hotel lobby at 6.'_

She sent that test message to a person she needed to desperately talk to. This was an urgent situation and she needed advice on how to make it better. 

AJ heard voices outside the car and she saw Dolph out of the rear view mirror. She decided to take charge and climb over into the driver's seat, but soon she got nervous. She wasn't the best driver, and the thought of driving on the freeway and the roads and switching lanes made her nervous. 

Dolph came over to the driver's side, noticing her there and he tilted his head to the side. He knew AJ wasn't a great driver, but he didn't make a fuss, he just came over to the other side of the car, getting in and looking back at Big E with a "we might die" face. 

"AJ..." he didn't know exactly what to say, "please don't kill us." 

"I'll try my best." she put the car in reverse, looking back, not seeing anything. 

Dolph snickered, "Fix your mirrors, babe." 

"Oh, right, sorry." she fixed them, seeing the cars behind her, so she could safely pull out of the parking space, "Okay, I'm good now, I won't kill you guys." 

"Thank you, Jesus!" 

She glared into the mirror, "Shut up, E." 

She gave a small laugh and she looked over to see Dolph on his phone. Once she got to a red light, she pulled out her phone and texted him... 

_'Talk to me...'  
_

AJ saw him receive the message, sigh, and exit out of it and continue with what he was doing. This wasn't going well. 

_'Please?'  
_

He received that message too, and she saw him getting uncomfortable with not answering her. 

_'Baby, please talk to me.'  
_

He finally put his phone down, and sighed one last time, but before he could speak, Big E spoke up, "Wait, are you guys talking now? Good, I finally have entertainment." 

AJ giggled, "Baby, I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner." 

"Now that he's proposed, he's going to think that he can do whatever he wants with you, and he can't." 

"I didn't say yes, baby." 

"But you're 'thinking about it'. In guy language that means we have to be super romantic until you say yes. So, he'll probably want to sleep with you, he'll want to touch all over you to let you know he cares—" 

"Like you do?" 

He fought a smile, "Exactly, and I better be the only one that knows about your sweet spot on your shoulder." he started to daydream a little, "Or the one on your thigh, or the one in between your—" 

"Nasty! Nasty! Nasty!" Big E yelled, covering his ears. 

They both laughed, "Baby, no one else knows about those places, only you." she smirked, "Does anyone else know about your sweet spots?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about." 

"Of course you do, baby. I'm talking about the one on your chest, the one I proudly discovered by your—" 

"NASTY!" Big E single-handedly made this moment less tense. 

"We really just need to tell them..." Dolph told her, getting serious. 

"I agree." 

"How about tonight after Smackdown?" 

_"Tonight?"  
_

He hunched his shoulders, "Sure, why not?" 

"Okay," she nodded her head, preparing herself, "okay, let's do it tonight after Smackdown." 

Dolph's phone began to ring and he groaned, answering it, "Hey, babe." his voice sounded so unenthusiastic as he put it on speaker. 

_"Hey, what are you doing?"  
_

"I'm in the car on the way to Texas for Smackdown, you?" 

_"I'm just taking a warm bubble bath."  
_

Was that supposed to be sexy or something? "Uh, make sure to get in all those sweaty crevasses." AJ had to hold in a laugh as he looked over with a look. 

_"Dolph, are you around other people?"  
_

"Yeah, AJ and E, why?" 

_Nikki became irritated, "Ew, what are you doing with them?"  
_

"It's a free ride to Texas, Nikki, calm down." 

_"Make sure you tell your little girlfriend to keep her hands to herself."  
_

"She's my on-screen girlfriend, stop being all paranoid." 

_"I'm not paranoid, she's just crazy and she hops from man to man, so I need to make sure she stays with her little Johnny."  
_

"Alright, well, we're stopping for something to eat, I'll talk to you whenever." 

_"Aren't we sharing a hotel room in Texas?"  
_

Dolph threw his head back, "Uh, sure, we can." 

_"You sound upset about that, I'm your girlfriend, it's not uncommon—"  
_

"Okay, Nikki, I got it, we'll share, I have to go, bye." He hung up the phone and basically threw his phone into the cup holder. "She annoys me." 

"I can tell." 

"Why does she want to share a hotel room?" 

Big E laughed, "She's your legitimate girlfriend, Dolph, sue her for wanting to spend time with you and not knowing that you're cheating on her with Ms. America in the front seat." 

"Hey, leave me out of it." 

Dolph groaned, "She irks me. I have no clue why I even started dating her." 

"I think it was because of the boobs." 

He looked back at him, "That's probably true." 

AJ gasped, "Dolph!" 

"What?" 

"I don't have boobs, why are you with me?" 

"You have more to offer than her. You're pretty and loving and all that good stuff..." 

Big E was curious, "When you finally dump her, can I have her?" 

"Go for it." 

"Quick question, is she good in bed?" 

"I don't remember, it's been a year or so." AJ felt uncomfortable with them talking about his "girlfriend" and Dolph saw it, "But I do remember my amazing night the other night." 

"You mean when you and Ms. America got your freak on?" 

_"Oh yeah_, that's exactly what I'm talking about." 

"She's good isn't she?" 

Dolph smirked, "She's amazing..." 

AJ blushed, but the guys kept going, "So she's amazing?" 

"My baby is fantastic...she pulled out all the tricks for me the other night when I won the title." 

"Tricks?" 

"Yeah, a long time ago I taught her this leg trick where she has to put her let on my shoulder—" 

"Okay! Okay! I think he gets it, Ziggy!" 

"Excuse me for showing you off a little, babe." 

She just rolled her eyes and smiled, continuing to drive. She wasn't uncomfortable anymore and the ride to Texas was now much easier to handle now that her and Dolph were okay.

_Hours Later: In the Lobby: Texas_

AJ tapped her foot on the floor in the lobby as she waited for her best friend to come. She needed some advice right now and she was the perfect person to talk to.

"AJ?"

She turned around and saw her friend, "Kaitlyn!" she basically squealed because she hadn't seen her best friend in about two weeks.

They embraced each other and sat down in the chairs, smiling, "So what's up? You said it was important."

"Oh, yeah, um, I have to tell you something."

Kaitlyn listened in carefully, "What is it?"

"I have feelings for Dolph…" she said, testing the waters a little bit.

She seemed surprised, "Really?!"

"We've been together for a while now and—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up, start from the beginning."

AJ took a deep breath, "About a year ago, we realized we had feelings for each other and we started sneaking around seeing each other and dating and all that good stuff."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and now it's almost our anniversary and he says he doesn't want it to be spent behind closed doors and I agree, you know? I love him—"

"You _love _him?"

"Yes, I love him with all my heart, Kaitlyn. He's perfect and he's nothing like John—"

"So, you have no feelings for John?"

"None." It was plain and simple. She honestly didn't feel anything for John. Once she realized that Dolph was the one…all her tiny feelings for John flew right out of the window.

"What are you guys going to do?"

"We're going to try and tell them after Smackdown tonight, but I'm scared."

"Why? Don't you want to get this over with?"

AJ breathed out heavily, "Yes, I would love that, but I'm scared of the reaction we'll get. I know there will be yelling and hurt feelings, but you know I hate to disappoint people."

"You're only going to disappoint yourself if you don't tell them tonight. Get it over with. I can't even imagine hiding the fact that I love someone for almost a year."

"It's really hard."

"I know, which is why you need to do it sooner than later."

AJ smiled and stood up, "You're right, I just need to suck it up."

"That's the AJ I know."

_Later: Smackdown_

AJ twirled her hair as she stood there in the ring with Dolph and Big E. Dolph was doing his small acceptance speech after winning the title, and she was thrilled to be out there with him. She truly believed that he deserved that title, so being her character, the AJ that everyone knew loved Dolph, was amazing at the moment.

They headed back up the ramp, waving at the fans as they went to commercial, laughing at some girl who was screaming that she would give Dolph her panties if he dumped AJ for her.

"Can you believe that girl?" Dolph said, laughing still.

"I know right, how desperate is she?" AJ responded, grabbing a water bottle for all three of them.

"Hey, I'm the World Heavyweight Champion; everyone wants to throw their panties at me."

AJ laughed, hitting him in the stomach, "Shut up."

"Oh, what do you know? It's the World Heavyweight Champion and the WWE Champion in the same place, at the same time." Big E said in a corny announcer's voice as John approached them.

"Hey, John." Dolph and AJ said at the same time.

"Hey, guys, uh, I see you guys are getting along."

"I feel as though we're still in character right now, babe," she turned to Dolph with a weird look, "It'll wear off soon though, no worries."

"Are you sure?"

She stared at Dolph for a second, "See, it's gone, now I hate him again and I want to bang him upside the head with his championship."

"I agree, a minute ago we were laughing, but now, I kind of want to tell her that her awkward laugh annoys me."

John gave a small laugh, "Dolph, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, what about?"

"In private?"

Dolph became a little uneasy, "Uh, yeah, sure." He walked away with John, turning to where he could still see AJ, but John couldn't, "What's up, John?"

"I've wanted to talk to you about this for a while now, but I've been trying to hold back as much as I could."

"What is it?"

"Do you have feelings for my girlfriend?"

Dolph almost choked on the air surrounding him, "What? Why would you think that?"

"I'm just asking because when I see you guys on the show, you seem really into each other, well, you more than her, but it makes me uncomfortable."

"John, I can assure you—"

"I knew you'd deny it, Dolph, which is another reason I wanted to talk to you."

"Um—"

"I want you to stay away from her."

He was taken aback by John's words, "What?"

"I've already asked Vince if he can stop the storyline you guys are in—"

"Whoa, wait, you've talked to Vince about this? Just because you have jealously issues doesn't give you the right to talk to Vince about my storyline."

John stepped closer, obviously getting defensive, "I have a lot of right. I feel uncomfortable with you kissing my girlfriend every night, so I'm putting an end to it."

"Have you ever thought about maybe _AJ_ has feelings for _me_?"

Dolph immediately hated himself for saying that. He shouldn't have dragged AJ into it, causing more attention onto them.

"What? No, AJ would never have feelings for a dirt bag like you."

Dolph chuckled, "Yesterday, according to you, we were friends."

AJ came over, looking beautiful as ever, acting like she hadn't overheard the conversation, "Hey, guys, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing—"

"John thinks we're sleeping together." Dolph said bluntly.

AJ gasped, "What?"

"Babe, I didn't say that, he's lying."

"Johnny, I'm pretty sure if I had any feelings for your little girlfriend, she wouldn't still be with you, so I think that's proof enough."

John gave him a look. One of those "I'm sorry for accusing you" kind of looks. "I'm sorry, dude, I'm being stupid."

"Of course you are."

"I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Dolph nodded as John started to walk away, taking AJ with him. He stood there and sighed…so much for them telling John and Nikki about them tonight.

He noticed Big E still there, smiling like crazy because he knew about everything that was going on. Dolph chuckled, shaking his head at the man. Something told him to look back though, and what he saw warmed his heart.

It was AJ. As she was walking away with John, she was looking back at him, pretending to be looking at Big E just in case John noticed her looking back.

She waved slightly at him, winking, making him smile and give a small wave back. She mouthed to him "I love you" and he did the same, smiling the entire time.

She did a hand signal that they had made up a long time ago, telling him something secretive, that only he knew about. He smiled and winked at her and she disappeared around the corner.

"Dude, you and Ms. America are planning something aren't you?" Big E asked with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw that look you guys were giving each other; can I know what it is?"

Dolph smirked, putting his arm around Big E's shoulder as they started to walk away, "First off, you can't tell anybody, alright?" he nodded, "Alright…"


	4. Chapter 4

They were running out of time. Their anniversary was in about a week and a half and their "mates" didn't know about them cheating. 

That wink that AJ gave him meant for him to meet her in their spot of the arena in about twenty minutes. Big E thought that it was going to be something juicy, but Dolph wouldn't even tell him what they talked about when he came back from their small meeting. 

_"Baby?" AJ called quietly. She tiptoed into the secluded area of the arena and closed the door behind her, coming into a dark room, "Baby?"  
_

_He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, but scaring her in the process, "Hello, gorgeous."  
_

_"Dolph, you scared me!"  
_

_He chuckled and she turned around in his arms, "Sorry, babe."  
_

_"It's okay," She wrapped her arms around his neck, "what are we going to do now? John is getting suspicious."  
_

_"This is the perfect time to tell them. If they're suspicious, why not tell them?"  
_

_"True, it's perfect, baby."  
_

_"You know what else is perfect?"  
_

_"A tall, blonde, muscular, man that happens to be the best boyfriend in the world?"  
_

_He smiled wide, "Him too, but I was talking about a tiny, converse-wearing, comic book reading, woman that happens to be the best girlfriend in the world."  
_

_"Awe, baby, that's so sweet."  
_

_"Anything for you," he smiled down at her and sighed, "I can't wait for you to be mine for good."  
_

_"I can't wait for that either."  
_

__"Dude, come on, just tell me!" Big E was basically pleading with Dolph to tell him what happened. 

"Nope," he smirked, "I don't kiss and tell." 

Big E made a disgusted look, "You guys didn't..." 

"Not tonight." 

They laughed and walked out to the car to head back to the hotel. They got into the car and began to drive back, but for some reason the laughter had stopped and everything was serious. 

"What's going to happen when you guys finally tell them?" 

Dolph sat back in his seat and thought long and hard about that question. What would be the first thing they did as an exposed couple? What would they say to each other? Would things be different?" 

"I don't know, E." 

"What do you mean you don't know? How could you guys not know?" 

"It's not like we planned a vacation or something for after we tell them. We're doing it before our anniversary so it can be spent correctly and no hiding, but other than that, I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do." 

"Do you love her?" 

Dolph was confused about Big E's line of questions, "Of course." 

"Then you should know." 

"I love AJ with everything in me, there's no doubt about that and she knows that too." 

"Are you sure?" 

Dolph furrowed his eyebrows and continued to drive back the hotel in silence. Big E was trying to get inside his head and he wasn't going to let that happen. He loved AJ, and AJ loved him, so there was no reason to be questioning it now. 

One thing that worried Dolph about this conversation was that Big E knew their secret. He knew how long and how real their relationship was, so at any point and time, he could walk up to John and tell him about what they were doing. 

Dolph parked the car and walked inside the hotel to see John, AJ, and Nikki in there waiting for them. 

"Baby!" Nikki squealed, running up to him, wrapping her arms around his torso and squeezing him tight. 

"Hey, babe." 

"Did you miss me?" 

"Of course I did, why wouldn't I miss you?" Dolph sort of hugged her back, trying his best to smile for the people looking at him. 

"Awe, I missed you too! I can't wait to get to the hotel room and show you all the things I bought for you while we were apart." 

Dolph could see out of the corner of his eye that AJ was rolling her eyes at what Nikki had just said, which made him grin like crazy, "Oh okay, I can't wait to see what it is."

Both AJ and Dolph knew what Nikki was talking about and this called for some action that AJ particularly didn't want to happen. This meant Nikki was going to be basically walking around in lingerie, trying to be sexy for him, and that didn't sit well with AJ, of course. She was the only one allowed to do that, and yes, she was jealous. 

"Uh, John, I bought something for you too." AJ said, feeling a need to even the playing fields. 

"Oh, really, babe? I didn't know you were into those kinds of things." 

"I wanted to try something new for a change. I want to spice things up a bit, you know?" AJ smirked and made sure she said it loud enough to catch Dolph's attention, "I mean, who knows? This could make or break my decision for the marriage thing, so maybe we should try it." 

Dolph's mouth almost dropped, but he always knew how to one-up her, "Babe, why don't we go upstairs to the room now so I can show you how much I missed you?" 

Nikki beamed, "Of course, let's go." 

AJ's mouth actually dropped and Big E came in for the save, "Hey, John and Nikki, what's this?" He pointed to his arm so John had to turn his back on AJ, and Nikki had to come over to him with her back turned as well. 

Once AJ realized they were analyzing his arm, she inched a little over to Dolph so she could talk to him through her teeth, "Dolph Ziggler, I swear I'll kill you if you sleep with her tonight." 

He smiled and looked over towards the cafe as though he wasn't talking to her, "So any other day I can? Just not tonight?" 

"This is not the time, Dolph, I'm serious." 

"It's a joke, calm down." 

She turned to face him and he looked down at her, "Don't sleep with her." 

"As long as you don't sleep with John." 

"So that's the stipulation?" 

He smirked, "Yeah." 

"John was hassling me earlier about that kind of stuff, Dolph. He says we need to spice up our relationship. We haven't done anything romantic in a year and he's starting to think I don't like him or something." 

"But you don't." 

"He doesn't know that." 

Dolph got the hint and almost fainted, "Are you asking me for permission to _sleep_ with John?" 

She turned to him and gave an apologetic look, "Sort of..." 

"We're going to tell them in no more than a few days, why would you do that?" 

"I'm just saying, we can't just fall off just because we're telling them really soon. I still have to act like his girlfriend." 

"You haven't slept with him in almost a year, AJ, why would you want to start now?" 

AJ smiled at John who turned back around to check on her as Nikki and him kept talking to Big E about his arm, "Dolph, it was just a suggestion. If you don't want me to, I won't." 

"Do whatever you want to do." Dolph sighed, "Nikki, come on, I'm starting to get tired." 

She came over, wrapping her arms around him again, "It was nice seeing you again, AJ, I'll probably see you soon." 

AJ gave her the best smile she could and looked at Dolph one last time, "Have a great night." 

"Oh, we plan on it." 

AJ had to hold a mini-barf from coming up her throat as she saw Dolph and Nikki walking away to the elevator. 

"Are you ready for some fun, babe?" John wrapped his arms around her waist and she cringed at him attempting to be romantic and kissing her neck. 

"Of course I am, John." 

"Come on..." He grabbed her hand and they walked to the elevator. 

Before AJ got into the elevator, she looked back at Big E who nodded at her, and she looked down and almost began to cry. She wasn't sure she could do this. 

"_AJ, are you and Dolph okay now?"  
_

_"Yeah, E, we're great, why?"  
_

_AJ and E sat in catering just talking about random things, but this had to be the most random of them all.  
_

_"Oh, Dolph was just telling me earlier that he was still a little mad at you."  
_

_She looked surprised, "Why? We made up in the car earlier, how could he still be mad?"  
_

_Little did AJ know...Big E was lying...  
_

_"I don't know, I thought the same thing. But hey, don't tell him I said anything because this was supposed to be a man to man conversation."_

_AJ was a little shocked as she ate her apple, "What is he mad about?"_

"_He thinks you have feelings for John."_

"_But I don't!" AJ screeched, catching people's attention in catering. She looked around before putting her head down, "I don't have feelings for John and he knows that."_

"_I guess he doesn't."_

"_What should I do, E? I mean, you're a guy, you know how Dolph thinks, what should I do?"_

"_I say," Big E pretended to think, "Maybe you should sleep with John one last time to see if you actually do have feelings for him."_

"_What?!"_

"_It's just a suggestion, don't yell at me."_

_AJ almost slapped him, "Why would you even suggest that? I haven't done anything with John in almost a year and you want me to sleep with him? No, I won't do it."_

"_It could work, AJ, you never know."_

_AJ caught herself actually thinking about sleeping with John one last time. She knew it wouldn't feel right to do it because her heart belonged to Dolph, "I…I can't do that to Dolph."_

"_But you're already doing it to John…" Big E told her, making her swim in a pool full of guilt._

"_If I did this and I don't feel anything, then what?"_

"_Then you know for a fact that you and Dolph are meant to be."_

"_But I know it already." She debated that in her mind and started to question herself, "Right?"_

"_Only you can answer that, AJ."_

AJ felt dirty. She felt filthy. She felt…worthless.

She stopped her romantic doings with John because as she suspected, it didn't feel right. When she kissed him, she felt no passion, no spice, and nothing she ever felt with Dolph. Dolph was her chose and she knew that for a fact now.

She was crying. She was bawling her eyes out because she couldn't find the man she loved. When she had run out on John, she ran to his hotel room, not even carrying about Nikki, but she knocked on the door to find out that his room had been changed.

AJ called him, not getting an answer probably because of Nikki. She ran to the desk and got his room number, running to his room as fast as she could.

When she got there, she saw Nikki coming out of the room looking frustrated, "Nikki, what's going on?"

"Dolph just broke up with me!" she yelled, pushing past her, heading to the elevator.

"He _what?!"_ AJ started to breathe heavy as she walked into Dolph's room, hearing voices coming from the separate lounge area of the room. "Dolph?"

He appeared, looking sort of indescribable. So many emotions were running through him right now and she wasn't sure what they all were, "Oh, AJ, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." she analyzed the room, seeing a few pair of underwear on the floor, "I see you had a little fun with Nikki before you dumped her."

He chuckled, "Yeah, I couldn't take it anymore, I just had to do it." he looked around at the underwear too, "She started coming out in these different outfits, and I had to admit, they looked great on her, but it didn't feel right."

"Dolph! You can't break up with her!"

"Why not? It was going to happen in a couple days anyway."

"We were supposed to tell them _together_! Now I'm going to have to tell John and I'm going to look crazy because you're not in a relationship anymore! I'm going to look like the bad guy now!"

"No you're not, AJ, calm down."

"Dolph, how could you break up with her?!"

"I don't love her, AJ, I can't be with her!"

She ran her hands through her hair and noticed Big E standing over to the side of the room, watching them thoroughly, "I can't even process this right now, Dolph, that was so stupid."

"_Stupid_?"

Dolph knew breaking up with Nikki was risky, but it definitely wasn't stupid because he wanted to be with AJ…not Nikki. He stared at her, analyzing her frustration and it finally clicked in his head.

"You didn't want me to break up with Nikki, so you could have an excuse to stay with John if you changed your mind about us." He stepped back from her, "Wow…"

AJ turned away from him, "I knew this was a mistake…"

"What was a mistake, AJ? _Us?_ Is that what you're going to say?" she stayed quiet and he honestly was hurt, "Are you serious right now? We finally grew the balls to tell them and you're chickening out?"

"I didn't—"

"Whatever, AJ, I don't even care right now. You know more than anyone how I feel about you, and I know more than anyone how you feel about me, so for you to stand here in my face and basically say you don't want to do this anymore…that's a slap in my face."

"I'm not saying that, Dolph."

"Then what are you saying?"

AJ came closer to him, hugging him tight, "I'm just nervous about this whole thing, baby, don't believe anything I just said, please? I didn't mean it."

There was a knock at the door, and they instantly pulled apart. AJ fixed her clothes for some reason, making sure she was presentable for whoever was at the door.

Dolph went to the door and saw that it was John. He walked in, looking for AJ, and guess what? He definitely found her.

"AJ, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"We were talking about our group and stuff, John, why?"

"You just ran out on me in the middle of us…" he went quiet for a second, "Why did you leave me for them?"

"It was an emergency, John, calm down."

AJ hated lying, but this was a subject that she was used to lying about, "You always seem to leave me for Dolph and Big E, AJ, what the hell is this?"

"We're in a group together—"

"Screw the group, AJ, what is going on here?!"

AJ turned to Dolph and then to Big E, "John…" she looked over at Dolph one last time to see him looking at her almost with a hopeful grin, "baby, it's nothing."

Dolph's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach…


	5. Chapter 5

_"Dolph, stop being a jerk!" AJ screamed, jumping up to reach her last cinnamon roll.  
_

_"If you want it, you can have it, but you have to get it."  
_

_He kept a smirk plastered on his face and her hate for him grew, "Stop it! You're being a child!"  
_

_"If I was a child, I'd eat it right in front of your face, but no, I'm being nice to you today."  
_

_She groaned, "It's my last cinnamon roll! Just give it back!"  
_

_They were in the locker room alone, waiting on John to come back from his match, "Nope, if you want it, you have to come get it." Dolph held it even further above his head so she couldn't reach it.  
_

_"You're an asshole, you know that, right?"  
_

_Dolph gasped, "Oh, so now you're insulting me?" He shrugged and shoved the small cinnamon roll into his mouth, exaggerating each chew and swallowing it extra hard just to piss her off even more.  
_

_"You did not just eat my last cinnamon roll!"  
_

_"I believe I did," he grinned, "and I must say, it was delicious."  
_

_She pounced on him, making him fall back onto the ground as she punched him around his body as hard as she could. She was tiny, but AJ liked to believe her punches were still effective.  
_

_He wiggled around under her, trying to block each punch, because in all honesty, her punches hurt in certain spots. He found an opening, grabbing her by her waist and hopping up, throwing her against a nearby wall.  
_

_"Okay, okay, I'll buy you some more, just stop!" He yelled at her, finally stopping her raging punches.  
_

_"Dolph Ziggler, you don't know how much I hate you!"  
_

_He snickered, "How much do you hate me?"  
_

_AJ did the unthinkable. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into the angriest kiss she could produce. "That much."  
_

_Dolph was shocked and confused until his eyes were fixated back on hers once they pulled away from the kiss. Their breathing was heavy and he looked down at her, all the hatred he had towards her was gone and he saw her in a brand new light.  
_

_"AJ—"  
_

_"I shouldn't have done that!" She began to panic and pushed him away, walking across the locker room, sitting on a bench.  
_

_He followed, sitting next to her, still a bit confused at how his emotions towards her had switched, "AJ...what was that?"  
_

_"I don't know, okay?" She was still in panic mode, "I'm with John, Dolph, you know that, so this was a mistake and it can't ever happen again."  
_

_"Agreed," Dolph began to think, "plus, I'm with Nikki, so it's not like I'm willing to cheat on her, so...whatever that was needs to end there."  
_

_AJ couldn't help but look at him, staring straight into those crystal blue eyes of his. She never noticed how beautiful they were until now, "What if we don't want it to end?"  
_

_"We?"  
_

_"Yeah," she bit her lip, "we...as in, you and I. What if we don't want it to stop there? What if we want more?"  
_

_Dolph noticed that AJ inched a little closer to him on the bench and he did the same, closing the gap between them. "What happens if we do?"  
_

_She tried to hold in a half smile but the locker room door flew open, catching them centimeters away from each other.  
_

_"John!" AJ sprung up, walking over to him, "I'm glad you won your match."  
_

_"Awe, thanks, babe."  
_

_Dolph scratched the back of his neck, smiling at John, "Yeah, congrats on the win, dude."  
_

_"Thanks, man," he smiled back, "so what were you guys doing in here? I see you didn't kill each other, so that's a good thing, right?"  
_

_"Well, your girlfriend assaulted me because I ate her last cinnamon roll."  
_

_"Yeah, he ate my cinnamon roll and I attacked him. He was crying like a wimp."  
_

_"I was not."  
_

_"You did something I didn't expect." She said slyly, biting the corner of her lip, looking down to hide a blush.  
_

_Dolph saw everything and felt his heart jump. Was he starting to actually like AJ Lee? If he was...she was feeling the exact same way.  
_

Dolph stood there, shocked. This was the perfect opportunity to tell John about them, but she passed it up. "_Get out_." Everyone looked at him strangely, "You heard me, I said get out." 

John spoke up to ease the confusion, "Dude, I didn't mean to offend you, I was just wondering why AJ—" 

"And take her with you." He sounded so cold and dry, which were two adjectives she'd never liked to use to describe him. 

"What's wrong with you, Dolph?" 

Dolph Ziggler...snapped... 

"You want to know my problem, John? My problem is that I love this amazing woman, but she's in a relationship already! She's perfect for me, but she fails to see it yet! She hides and makes up every excuse in the book not to tell her boyfriend that she wants to leave him, but guess what? _I'm done_! I tried John, I did, and I'm sorry for taking all of this out on you, but I want to be alone!" 

"I thought you were dating Nikki?" 

"Nikki and I would have never lasted. This girl is amazing, John, and she's too amazing to pass up." 

"Then why are you giving up on her?" 

Dolph looked down, fiddling a little with his shirt, "_She gave up on me_." 

"I wish I could help you—" 

"Just leave..." He was no longer mad, he was heartbroken. He had put so much time and so much effort into a relationship that just went flying out of the window. 

"I'm here to help if you need anything." John took AJ's hand, which only stung Dolph's heart even more. John left with her, leaving Big E in the room, "You too, get out." 

"You're kicking me out?" 

"Yes, now leave." 

Big E groaned, leaving the hotel room anyway. Dolph changed into some comfortable clothes and got in his bed so he could be comfortable and miserable all by himself. 

He looked over and saw a small spot near him where AJ normally would be at if she was here. She always curled up into a cute little ball as she lay next to him, cuddled close. 

He breathed out heavily, missing her presence, but hating it at the same time. At this moment he regretted even developing feelings for this woman. Not because he regretted loving her, but because of the tremendous amount of pain he was feeling in his heart. He couldn't even feel like a man anymore as he lay in his bed, missing his small brunette. 

AJ on the other hand was worried out of her mind. She just seemed to never get things right when it came to him. She always messed with his feelings and got his hopes up, only to send his feelings plummeting back down to the ground. 

She walked out of Dolph's room feeling worse than ever. This was the perfect time to tell John and she blew it because she was too nervous.

"John..." AJ spoke up, tapping her foot lightly on the floor of their hotel room, "we need to talk." He came and sat down next to her on the edge of the bed, staring at her deeply, "_John, I love you."  
_

He smiled bright, "I love you too." 

"You know, I've been thinking a lot about us lately and...I've honestly had a lot to think about." 

"What do you mean?" 

"We've been together for almost a year and a half, and for that amount of time, you've been amazing to me and I can't lie and say at first it wasn't what I wanted." 

John titled his head to the side, "What are you trying to say?" 

"It's taken me until now to realize that...**we can't be together anymore**." 

It took some courage, but she was doing it without Dolph there. She didn't need his presence to do the right thing, but John look infuriated. 

"So, you're breaking up with me?" 

"Yes." Surprisingly it felt good to tell John this, "I can't be with you anymore." 

John began to pace around the room and she could feel the tension rising, "But...but you just sat there and told me you loved me!" 

"I do love you!" AJ breathed out heavily, "But...**I only love you as a friend**." 

"A friend?" He gave a small chuckle, "_A friend_? That's what you see me as?" 

"I've been thinking—" 

"Who is he?" John asked, his voice now soft and hurt, "Who is the guy that has your heart, AJ? Who is he?" 

She stared at him for a few second before answering, "You don't know him." 

"I don't? Are you sure it's not someone we work with? Someone I'm close to?" 

She gulped, "No, you don't know him." 

"So how long has this been going on? How long have you loved him and not me?" 

"About a year..." 

"A year?!" John was mad again, pacing the room, balling his hands into fists, "You've been stringing me along for a year?!" 

"It wasn't on purpose, please, just hear me out." 

"What more do I need to hear, AJ?! You've been in love with another man for the majority of our relationship! How do you expect me to be okay with that and listen to you?!" 

"It was on accident!" She stood up, walking over to him to try and calm him down, "I honestly liked you when we first started dating, but—" 

"You loved him more than me! You should have told me then! I would rather you tell me a few months into our relationship than a year and a half later!" 

She couldn't argue too much with that, "You're right." 

"I know I'm right! You know what, AJ? Whoever he is, he deserves you. Any man, who could steal your heart away from me, deserves you." 

That went right over her head, "I'm a little confused." 

"I was so loving towards you and I cared. You told me everything, including work and personal problems, and that's what I thought made us _different._ That's why I loved you, AJ, because we were the couple that everyone wanted to be." 

"I didn't want to be here, John. I wanted to be with him, and I still do." 

He stood there in front of her and looked away with tears building up in his eyes, "So...you've been cheating on me for the past year too, huh?" 

She nodded and breathed out heavily because it was wrong to do, but her heart belonged to someone else, "Yeah..." 

"And let me guess," he gave a sarcastic chuckle, "he's your Superman? He's the one whose smile brightens your day and the man that will forever own you heart? Am I right?" 

AJ let all that sink in and she answered those questions mentally before speaking up, "John, you don't understand. I know this is going to sound strange because I've been cheating on you with him, but he's **amazing**. He's **perfect** for me and I love him with every fiber of my being." 

He scoffed, "Maybe you should just go date Dolph. You're saying the exact same thing as him." 

"All I'm trying to say is, yes, I know it was wrong for me to do this to you, but I love him, and I'm not going to ruin us for a relationship I don't want to be in anymore." 

"This is it? You're being serious right now? This isn't a joke or anything, right?" 

"John, I'm serious. **This is it for us**." 

"There never was an 'us', AJ." John just went on a hurtful rant, "Whoever that jerk is, deserves you because you're _worthless_! You're just going to turn around and do the same thing to him that you did to me and I can't wait to laugh in his face!" 

"John—" 

"You let me love you! You let me get used to coming home to you! You're a liar, AJ! You're a _cheating, worthless, psycho_ who need freaking therapy! What you did to me was wrong!" 

She cried as he let out all his frustrations, but she wasn't turning back now. She was doing this for her and Dolph and that's all that mattered. "I'm sorry." 

"Sure," he shook his head, "_get out_." 

AJ didn't hesitate. She just grabbed her packed suitcase and she left the hotel room. When she walked out, she felt a big weight lifted off her shoulders. She sat down at a small lounge area by the elevator and noticed a small smile forming on her face. She could finally be happy with Dolph, which is what she had wanted for a long time, so this moment felt great. 

She finally left the lounge area and made her way back to Dolph's room. On the other side of the door was the love of her life and both of them were now single and ready to take on the world together as an exposed couple. 

She knocked on the door and rested her luggage on the wall next to his door and wiped her face just in case there were tear stains. She heard footsteps making their way towards the door and when the door finally swung open, her face fell almost all the way to the floor. 

Her heart stopped beating for a second as she looked down at the phone in her hand to see it was well past midnight and she remembered this was the second time she was at his hotel room tonight. 

She remembered how things had left with her and Dolph and they weren't on the best terms, but she had exciting news and _this_ was what she had to see when she came to his hotel room? 

"Oh, hey, aren't you that girl Dolph works with?" 

___**It was Amy...**_


	6. Chapter 6

"_This is so wrong," AJ giggled, sliding into a janitor's closet, "we shouldn't be doing this here."_

"_You're such a wimp sometimes, you know that, right?" Dolph laughed along with her, finding the light switch, "Wow, this is what we've been downgraded to?"_

"_I told you I would just see you later, but no, you had to see me now."_

"_Hey, don't get mad at me because I want to see your little cute self." _

"_You think I'm cute?"_

"_You're adorable, babe, don't act like I've never told you before."_

_AJ smiled, running her hands through his soft hair, leaning up to kiss him. Over the last two months she had been seeing him. She was on cloud nine with this man, and he would tell you the same thing._

_She hated going behind John's back to do this with Dolph, but she felt a need to be with him. He treated her different and he did everything right. He made her feel like a woman, and he made her feel like the only woman in his life even though he was technically with Nikki._

_She felt great when she was with Dolph. He always knew what to say and how to say it. If you had asked her months ago what she thought of him, everything would have been negative, but now…things were different._

"_What are you doing this weekend?" he asked her._

"_I didn't have anything planned. I was sort of hoping you were free since John has this Make-A-Wish thing this weekend, so he won't be popping up at my house."_

_Dolph chuckled, "Remember like two weeks ago when he did that? I had left like five minutes before—"_

"_We almost got caught, Dolph! That's not funny!"_

"_It's hilarious, babe. You called me when he left the next day and I could hear you still breathing heavy."_

"_Shut up," she pushed him lightly, but he didn't move too much, "Can I tell you something?"_

"_Depends on what it is."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_If you're trying to break up with me in a janitor's closet, then I don't want to hear it, but if you're going to be all sexy, then sure."_

_She laughed, laying her head on his chest, "I'm not breaking up with you, Dolph, calm down." he began to rub her back and she closed her eyes, "I just wanted to tell you that I—"_

"_I love you too."_

_AJ smiled to herself for a second before looking up at him, "Really?"_

"_How could I not love you?"_

"_I don't know, I just didn't expect it, you know? I mean, I know I love you, but it was sort of crazy for me to think that…you felt the same."_

"_Stop underestimating yourself. You're amazing and I'm surprised that your stupid boyfriend John hasn't realized it yet."_

"_That's what I have you for, right?"_

_He laughed again, "Are you using me because John isn't good to you?"_

"_Of course not, baby, I'm saying that I have you to treat me right like he should be."_

"_Are you sure?"_

_She could tell he was kidding, so she smiled, "I'm very sure."_

"_Can we get out of this closet and go to my locker room?"_

"_I thought you wanted to be somewhere where we couldn't get caught?"_

"_I do, babe, don't get me wrong, but this tiny closet is really hard for me to fit in."_

"_You act like you're Big Show or something." She giggled, "You're six feet and two hundred and fifty pounds, that's very tiny compared to a lot of the guys here."_

_Dolph just left the room, leaving her there confused. She peeked her head out of the door and saw no one coming, so she left, knowing he'd be back in his locker room. Since she had no clue what was wrong, so she swiftly walked there, knocking on the door when she got there._

_He opened the door and tilted his head to the side, "What?"_

"_Why are you being rude?"_

_He made a face and she got the hint, "I don't like you, why would I be nice to you?"_

"_I just came to talk to you about my meeting with Vince."_

"_What does that have to do with me?"_

"_He's putting us in a group together."_

_Dolph's face dropped, of course he knew already, but the other man in his locker room didn't. John came to door to greet his girlfriend, "What? When was this?"_

"_I just came from the meeting now, John. Me, this new guy, and Dolph are going to be put in some kind of group together."_

_They opened the door wider for her to come in, which she did, "Really? How are you guys going to work that out?"_

"_We'll have to put personal problems aside, but right when we come backstage, I'll hate him again, just saying."_

"_You're saying that as though I actually want to walk out there with you every night." Dolph countered, but John didn't let it go any further._

"_Anyway, babe, I told you I'm going to Make-A-Wish this weekend, right?"_

"_Yeah, you told me."_

"_I have to go catch my plane, so I'll see you on Monday."_

"_Seriously, John, don't pop up on me like that again. You scared the shit out of me."_

_He laughed, "I promise to call you before I come." He came closer, kissing her briefly before he opened the door to leave, "Please, don't kill each other before I get back, okay?"_

"_No promises."_

AJ was confused. Why was Amy, his ex-girlfriend at his hotel room past midnight? Why was she even in his life anymore? Why was she here? Why was she alive?

"Yeah, I'm that girl."

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, I just came to see Dolph. We have this…_thing_ tomorrow and I needed to see him before then."

"It's midnight; can't it wait until the morning?"

"No, not really—"

Dolph came to the door, and was sort of shocked to see her, "Amy, I got this." She hunched her shoulders and left the two of them to talk, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to come by and tell you that I broke up with John."

His facial expression didn't change, he just closed the door so Amy couldn't hear their conversation, "That's…great."

"What's wrong with you? Isn't this supposed to be a good moment for us? I just told John about us, Dolph, you should be jumping for joy."

"I would have been jumping for joy if you hadn't done it because you thought you were going to lose me." He cleared his throat, "I wanted you to tell John because you knew you didn't love him anymore and you wanted to be with me."

"That's why I told him just now!"

"You told him because you knew I'd be mad at you for not telling him when you were in my room earlier today. You knew that this could've been the last straw for us. You knew that we might not have made it out of this, and _that's_ why you told him."

"I told him because I love you!"

He shook his head, "You told him because you were feeling guilty."

"Dolph Ziggler, you better not do this to me! I just sat there and took every nasty words John could throw at me because of you! I did this for us and you better damn believe me!"

"What did he say to you?"

"Don't go all protective boyfriend on me now, Dolph, because two seconds ago you were about to break up with me! How could you?! After everything we've been through!"

"I wasn't going to break up with you, AJ."

"Then why is Amy here?!"

Dolph finally saw where her anger was towards, "She was doing a show here and she stopped by."

"It's past midnight, Dolph, she shouldn't be here."

"She popped up, babe, it wasn't like I invited her. I was lying down, about to go to sleep, and she showed up at my door. I honestly thought it was you, which was the only reason I even opened the door."

AJ took a step back and locked her eyes with his, "I don't like her, Dolph, you know that."

"She literally got here two minutes ago. I was just about to tell her to leave."

"Why did you even let her in? When I came here, she answered the door acting like _she_ was your girlfriend or something."

"You know that's not the case, so don't even go there."

"Go where?!" she yelled at him, "I don't even know how to feel right now." She began to pace a little, "First, I mess up big time and don't tell John that we're together. I finally tell him, and I want to come be all romantic and excited with you about it and your ex-girlfriend opens the door."

"It's not like I wanted her here, AJ."

"If you didn't want her here, then you wouldn't have let her in! You wouldn't have talked to her for two minutes until I got here! I wouldn't have had to see her face!"

Dolph honestly didn't know where her head was at the moment. One minute she was here and the next, she was on an entire different subject. "Babe, just calm down, okay?"

"Why?! Why should I calm down?!"

"People are sleeping."

"You know what? I'm just going to get my own hotel room for the night, okay? I don't need this right now, Dolph. I came here to tell you that I'm a single woman and that I love you and you're the one I want to be with and—"

He kissed her, shutting her up for a few seconds, "I love you too, okay? You know that." AJ was still a little stunned by the kiss but she nodded her head, closing her eyes, enjoying the moment, "Will you please come in here, get in my bed, and lay with me?"

She nodded again, smiling a little, "Really?"

"Why wouldn't I want my **girlfriend **to lay with me?"

AJ stopped breathing for a few seconds, "W-What?"

"I said, why—"

"No, baby, I heard you, it's just…" she started to cry, "It's just really nice to hear you say it."

He just smiled, grabbing her luggage and walking back into his hotel room. Amy was smiling until she saw AJ come in with him, "Dolph, I was going to ask you if I could stay tonight—"

"I don't think my **girlfriend **would like that too much, would you, babe?"

"No, I want you all to myself tonight."

"Whoa, wait, when did you get a girlfriend? I heard you broke up with Nikki earlier today."

"Don't worry about it, Amy, just leave."

She huffed and grabbed her jacket, leaving as fast as she could. AJ closed the door and turned around, only to be mobbed by her boyfriend's kisses, "Ziggy…"

"What?"

"Say it again," she bit her lip, "please?"

"AJ Lee, you are my girlfriend."

She squealed, "I love how that sounds."

"You do?"

"I love it, Ziggy, it sounds so right."

He smiled and walked her over to the bed, lying down with her, "What's the first thing we should do?"

"I have a few ideas…"

He snuck a peek at her and saw that evil smirk of hers. He playfully rolled his eyes and turned on the TV, "Fine, we can watch a marathon of The Office."

AJ squealed and gave him a huge bear hug as they laid there under the covers, "Baby, you're amazing!"

"I know, I know," she looked up at him with huge smile on her face, "you're amazing too, if you didn't know already."

She snuggled herself into him, resting her head on his chest as he flipped to the channel where her favorite show came on. It was peaceful and silent for a bit, but they stayed close to each other because they felt it was necessary.

Dolph rubbed her back in a soothing manner as he watched TV with her, enjoying their moment. They were finally together and that's all they had wanted for the last year, "I love you."

"Ziggy, I love you too."

**Nope…this isn't the end, so calm down…more to come next Friday :) **


	7. Chapter 7

Let's just say...they were enjoying this new couple thing... 

"Ziggy!" She giggled, basically dragging him out of their hotel room. She pulled him so far that she bumped into the wall on the other side of the hallway. 

He smiled wide and kissed her, pushing her a little harder against the wall, "Yes?" 

"We have to go, you're taking too long." 

"I don't want to leave..." He just kept kissing her, enjoying her giggle she'd release every time he'd dive in for more, "I want to stay with my baby cakes..." 

"Baby, I'd love to stay in the hotel and play some more video games, but you don't see me complaining." 

"Hey, don't use that against me, the only reason you have video games to play is because I upgraded us-" 

"To the finest suite you could afford-" 

"Exactly, so technically it's because of me-" 

"That I get to play video games? Really, Dolph?" 

He snickered at her holding onto the hoodie he had on as though he was going to run away from her. "I love you...so much." 

AJ couldn't help but smile. This is what she had wanted for as far back as she could remember. She wanted the world to know who she loved, and his name happened to be Dolph Ziggler. 

"Baby, I love you too." 

"Come on, I have a show to go steal, and you have to watch." 

She just laughed and grabbed onto his hand as they headed towards the elevator. 

As they went to the arena, AJ couldn't help but think about John. She hadn't seen him since their break up, and that was three days ago. 

She needed to let it go, but she didn't like the fact that he was avoiding her. Sure, some might call her a people-pleaser at times, but she just didn't want John to hate her for falling in love with someone else. 

They finally got there and Dolph and AJ walked around for a bit, dropping their things off in their locker room that they were now sharing. 

"Baby, can you believe there's no diva on the show tonight other than me?" She sighed, "I hate that...and the only reason I'm on is because we're together on screen." 

"Hey, hey, hey, don't forget when you walk past that curtain you're still Dolph Ziggler's girlfriend." He smiled and stopped them from walking, kissing her briefly, "I love saying that." 

"I love hearing it..." She paused, "Say it again!" 

"AJ Lee, you're Dolph Ziggler's-" 

Suddenly they heard clapping, so they swiveled around to see John walking towards them with a smirk on his face...clapping. 

"Bravo!" He said, "Dolph Ziggler, you managed to obtain my sloppy seconds, so congratulations on that." 

"She's not your sloppy seconds if I had her the entire time." 

John seemed to get angry, so AJ intervened, "Guys, not now, alright? We all know who I'm with and who I'm staying with, so just get over it, John." 

"I'm over it, AJ, trust me, I'm over this completely, but when Dolph finds a better woman, don't come crying to me." 

Dolph grabbed onto her shirt, pulling her into his side, "Don't listen to him." John smirked and walked away, purposely bumping shoulders with Dolph on his way past them. "Babe-" 

"I don't believe him."

"Good." 

AJ sighed, "I was so scared about what it would be like the first time I saw John after everything that happened...but if that's how he's acting, then I have nothing to be guilty for." 

"You shouldn't feel guilty." 

"I mean, I know what we did was wrong, but he shouldn't act like an immature child about it." 

"Exactly," he grabbed her hand again, "we need to go get ready for our match." 

"Our?" 

"It's me and you, babe..._just me and you_." 

She smiled, leaning her head onto his arm as they continued to walk down the hallway, taking the long way back to their locker room. 

When they finally got in there, everything was how they left it, except something seemed off...AJ could feel it. Someone had been in their locker room and had taken something; she just wasn't sure what it was yet. 

"Baby, don't touch anything, alright?" She told him, scanning the room thoroughly. 

"Is something wrong?" 

"Yeah, someone was in here." 

"How do you know?" 

She glared at him, "It's a woman thing, Dolph, just don't touch anything." 

"Alright, you do your thing..." He sat down on the bench, watching her scan the room like something was going to jump out at her. "Have you found what was wrong yet?" 

"Shut up and let me find it." 

"You're really assertive today, babe, I kind of like it." 

"Now is not the time to be flirting with me, something is out of place and I know it."

Dolph sighed and started to go towards his bag that had his gear in it, when he heard ticking. He tilted his head and unzipped his bag and a small gust of smoke escaped his bag. "Babe, is this what was wrong?"

She snapped her head towards him and swiftly walked over, "Dolph, what is that sound?" she listened closer as the small ticking noise became louder and even faster, "What is that?"

Dolph grabbed the bag and quickly pushed her away from him with force, to the point where she fell to the ground, just as his bag exploded, causing smoke to go everywhere.

AJ started to panic, crawling over to the door and twisting the knob, opening the door to let the smoke out. She crawled completely out of the room and coughed, "Help! Someone, help!"

Almost immediately, a technical guy ran up to her, "Ms. Lee, is everything okay?"

"No," she continued to cough, "something exploded in my locker room, call for help, my boyfriend is still in there!"

"Stay out here, okay? I'm calling now!" he ran away frantically, and of course she didn't listen to his instructions. She found her balance and walked back into the locker room, only to be greeted by huge flames.

"Oh my God!" it was worse than what she thought. Not only was there fire, but it was blazing…"Dolph!" she called for him, but didn't get an answer and her heart stopped, "Baby, answer me!"

She still didn't hear anything, but she remembered safety rules from school, so she got down on the ground and crawled around, looking for him. Everything surrounding her looked the same, so she didn't know if she was going in circles or making progress.

"Dolph!" she kept screaming, but she still didn't get an answer.

"AJ!" she heard her name being called, but it wasn't his voice. Suddenly, she was being pulled out of the locker room and in no time, she was back outside in the hallway, coughing hard.

"My boyfriend is in there!"

The firefighters didn't seem to pay much attention to her as they went into the room with heavy suits on. She shook as she waited…and waited...and superstars and divas gathered around the room, looking just as worried as her.

"Oh, God…please let him be okay…" AJ whispered this to herself continuously, praying that somehow it would help the outcome of this situation. Kaitlyn, Layla, Aksana, and multiple other divas crowded around her, hugging and comforting her as they watched the men swiftly move around in the room.

Finally, a firefighter ran out, "We found a body…"

"W-What?"

"It's a male…he's doesn't look too good."

AJ burst into a massive fit of tears, "No, please, no! Is he going to be okay?!"

"We just called for a stretcher to come get him, but…he's burnt pretty badly."

She lost all of her balance, but luckily everyone around her sprung to catch her before she fell. She got so choked up that her breathing ratio was so uneven that they had to put an oxygen mask on her, but she refused to move from her spot until she saw him.

AJ didn't care if he was burnt, broken, or anything…she still wanted to see him, and make sure that he was okay. She needed him to be okay.

The stretcher was taken into the room and she heard the men rustling around until one started heading out of the room and she gasped, along with the others when she saw her boyfriend on the stretcher with an oxygen mask on, no shirt, and he looked lifeless.

"No…" it was barely a whisper, but that's all she could get out at the moment. She flung the oxygen mask off of herself and followed the stretcher as it headed towards the ambulance that was waiting far down the hall. "Dolph? Dolph, baby, can you hear me?"

"Ma'am, he's unconscious right now, he can't hear you." the fireman gave her a sympathetic look as they hurried down the hall and soon they reached the ambulance and they quickly lifted him in, "Are you riding with us?"

She nodded rapidly and hopped in, sitting down on the small benches they had in there. She cried as she saw him motionless on the stretcher. At some point on the ride there, she grabbed his hand and held it tight, staring down at his slowly moving chest.

When they made it to the hospital, they took him away from her and she hadn't seen him since. It had been about an hour and a half and she hadn't heard anything, so she called the one person she actually wanted to talk to right now.

"Mom?"

She heard her mother on the other line and she was immediately put at ease, _"__¿Está todo bien?"_

"No, it's horrible, actually." AJ curled up into a ball in the waiting room chairs as she spoke to her mother, "Mom, everything is going wrong."

"_Lo que pasó__, April? __Dime__lo que está mal__…" _

She began to cry again, and everything seemed to come crashing down, "You and dad don't even want to know what's wrong…everything I've done goes against everything you taught me growing up…I'm a mess."

"_Me estás asustando__, ¿qué __tiene de malo__?"_

"Don't be scared, it's not that bad." She took a deep breath and rested her head on the chair, "I was cheating on my ex-boyfriend…" she heard her mom gasp, "I know, I know, but I fell in love with someone else and I didn't know how to tell him."

"_April__, __i__te enseñó__mejor que eso!"_

"I know, mom, I know. It was wrong, but he loves me, and that sounds really cliché, but I mean it. He loves me just as much as I love him, and…I don't know what to do. I'm sitting here in the hospital because he's hurt and I just don't know what to do!"

"_Cálmate…"_

She calmed herself down like her mother had asked, "He's hurt and I don't know what to do. He was barely breathing when I last saw him, mom, what if he doesn't make it?"

"_April, if you love this man as much as you say you do, then I'm sure he'll be okay." _AJ gave a light smile at her mother speaking English. She hadn't heard it in years, and she just had to smile at her because whenever she spoke English, she meant every word she was saying.

She believed her mother's words and somehow she was put at ease almost immediately. She didn't need a friend and she didn't need her sister or her brother…she just needed her mom.

"Te quiero, mamá." AJ heard her mom giggle at her Spanish. Over the years, she had been speaking English so much that any Spanish she spoke was music to her mother's ears.

"_I love you more, April." _

That was about the end of their conversation and AJ felt a big weight lifted off of her shoulders. She needed that phone call and she was glad that she got it. It was special to her and it meant the world to her to still have her mother on her side.

"Ms. Lee?" AJ looked over and saw a man sitting next to her with a clipboard, "Mr. Ziggler…_he's okay_."

Her heart skipped a beat, "Really?"

"Mr. Ziggler has a few cuts and bruises, and a few serious burns, but nothing that can't be cured by some rest, time, the right treatment, and the right medicines."

"C-Can I see him?"

"Not right now, only because he's still in recovery, but as soon as you're able to see him, we'll let you know." He gave her a warm smile, "I'm Doctor Johnston, okay? If you need anything, or you have any questions, just ask for me at the desk."

"Thank you." something hit her, "How did you know my name?"

"You're on Dolph's emergency card…you've been there for a while, actually. The system had all your information like you guys were married, but your last name wasn't the same as his, so I just guessed you were his girlfriend…am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right on the nose."

He laughed, "I promise, he might not seem like it when you first see him, but he's going to be just fine in the long run."


	8. Chapter 8

"Ms. Lee?" She heard someone call and she looked towards the sound and saw a nurse, "You may see him now." 

"Okay, thank you." She smiled at the nurse and turned back to her friend, "Kaitlyn, I don't know what to do." 

"Just go in there and talk to him, let him know you love him, ask him how he feels, make love to him on the hospital bed, do something!" 

Kaitlyn erupted with laughter but all AJ could do was blush. Her friend took her hand and got serious slowly but surely, "Kaitlyn—" 

"He's fine, AJ." 

"I just don't...I don't want to see him broken and battered, you know? I'm imagining what he might look like—" 

"Go see him and you won't have to imagine..." 

AJ sighed and leaned back on the chair she was sitting in, trying to clear her head so she could go see him with positive thoughts. 

"Are you going or not?" 

She gave a light smile and stood up, "I'm going..."

She turned around and started slowly heading down the hallway towards his room. All the rooms had big glass windows to where you could look inside the room without actually going in. 

She looked left and right, looking at all the patients who had mild to severe cases. She got a little lost in the hallways, but saw a nurse and stopped her, "Excuse me, ma'am, where's room 418?" 

"I'm about to go there now, actually." She gestured for her to follow and she did. They soon came to the room and the nurse went in, but AJ stayed outside, looking through the big glass window. 

"Oh my..." She put her hand to her mouth when she saw his condition. What she had imagined was way worse than what he was and she started to tear up at him looking normal, with a few cuts a bruises. 

The nurse came back out and smiled at her, "You going in?" 

"Uh, yeah, I just wanted to see him out here first." 

"I just gave him some pain medicine, so he'll be knocked out cold soon...you should go in before the medicine kicks in." 

"Thank you." 

"Hit the red button on the side of his bed if you need anything, alright?" 

"I will." She nodded and went inside; turning towards the door to take her last breath as she slowly closed the door. When it finally closed, she turned around and he was already smiling at her. "Hey." 

"That's all I get?" He joked and she released a small giggle as she came over to the side of his bed, "I woke up and no one could tell me where you were." 

"I've been here the whole time. I even slept here last night just to make sure you were okay." 

"Babe," he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, "you didn't have to stay here, I'm fine." 

"Dolph, you're not fine. You could have died—" 

"I could have what?" 

She tilted her head oddly at him and sat down on the edge of his bed, "I'm confused here, Dolph, what are you saying?" 

Now he was confused, "I got in an accident at work, right? Some guy hit me running down the hall or something, right?" 

Her eyes widened, "Who told you that?" 

"Big E...he came in here earlier and told me everything that happened. I'm glad he pulled us out of that fire thing. I would have died if something had happened to you, babe."

Her breathing became a little heavy, "Why was he in here?" 

"He told me you wanted a little time before you saw me, which I understand, but—" 

"I didn't need time, Dolph...I was just now told about ten minutes ago that I could come see you." 

"What?" 

"I swear, baby, I wanted to come see you." 

Dolph pulled her onto the bed and right onto his chest, "It's okay, babe, I'm not mad." 

"Why would he lie about that?" 

Dolph kissed her forehead and rubbed her arm, "What really happened?" 

"What's the last thing you remember?" 

He sighed, "I remember you and me walking through the hallways, holding hands, being all cute and John came up to us...I don't even remember what he was talking about." 

"Well, he was just saying that you got his sloppy seconds and that I'll do the same thing to you and blah, blah, blah." 

"Don't listen to him." 

"That's exactly what you said to me when he left us alone." 

"What else happened?" 

She rubbed his chest lightly and continued, "We went back to the locker room and something felt wrong, so I told you not to move or touch anything, but you never listen and you opened your bag a bomb went off." 

He almost choked on the air, "A what?" 

"I know, I felt like I was in a war zone or something. I was crawling around trying to find you, but I could find you and..." She gripped onto his hospital gown and got under the blanket with him, "I was so scared… I didn't know what to do and the firefighters were taking forever to come and—"

"Hey, hey, hey…don't get all worked up, alright? I'm right here and I'm fine."

"You're hurt, baby, you're not fine. If you were fine, you wouldn't be in the hospital and that bomb wouldn't have gone off, and I wouldn't be laying her worried if you're going to wake up after your medicine kicks in."

"Babe, that's pain medicine. If anything, that's going to help me, not hurt me."

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you can tell me, Ziggy, I won't get all worked up, just please tell me if anything hurts."

He sighed and grabbed the controller, moving the bed all the way back so they could both sleep comfortably like they would in a regular bed, "My head hurts a little…my whole torso area is sore, and bruised, which is why they wrapped a whole bunch of stuff around me to make sure it doesn't get agitated from the covers."

"Is that it?"

"My arm kind of hurts, but I think that's because I slept on it, but it's no big deal either way." He smiled even though she couldn't see it, "Does that make you feel any better?"

"It does, baby, thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"If it wasn't for you, I would have been really hurt too. If you hadn't pushed me out of the way, I would have been knocked out by that bomb and no one would have known to come get us."

"It was instinct, babe, nothing special."

She looked up at him, "You saved me, Dolph."

"I didn't save you—"

"You did…you were willing to get blown up by whatever that was, just to save me from it. I thought about that all while I was out in the waiting room, waiting for them to tell me I could come see you."

"You think about me, babe? I didn't know that."

She smacked his chest, not as hard as she usually would, but hard enough to get her point across, "I was worried sick about you until your doctor came and told me you were alright."

"Dr. Johnston?"

"Yeah, he's nice, I like him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not dumping me for my doctor."

"Shut up…"

He chuckled and kissed her forehead, turning over onto his side, so her head was forced to be smashed against his chest, "He's a nice guy."

"He came out to the waiting room and calmed me down because I was so worried about you. He had this look on his face, and I could tell he was going to tell me you didn't make it or you were in ICU or something terrible, but all he told me was that you were in recovery…"

"Really?"

"Yeah," she paused, "he also told me that I'm on your emergency card."

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"Dolph, that's serious. I'm the top person on your emergency card and he says I've been there for a while. If anything happens to you, I'd be the first person they'd call and if they need consent for anything, they'll come to me."

"I'm confused…"

"Why would you do that?"

"You're my girlfriend, right? You should be responsible for all that kind of stuff."

She sighed, "Dolph, I've been your girlfriend for less than a week—"

"You've been my girlfriend for almost a year now, AJ."

"I wasn't your girlfriend—"

"To me you were, AJ, and I honestly don't understand where all this hidden anger is coming from. If you don't want to be on my emergency card, then fine, I'll take you off, I was just doing what I thought was right. You mean something to me and I plan on spending the rest of my life with you, so I thought you at least deserved to be called first if something happened to me."

Dolph sounded a little agitated and she could hear it in his tone without even looking up at him. His medicine was probably kicking in because he wasn't the best person to be around when he was sleepy, but she still loved to be around him anyway.

"Baby, I didn't mean it like that, okay? I just think that's really loving of you to put me there. I don't know, I was just shocked, I guess. I didn't know that our relationship was that serious to you that long ago."

"It's always been serious to me…since day one."

_His phone rang, "AJ?"_

"_Hey, I know we don't really call each other, we really shouldn't even have each other's numbers, but I need to talk to you."_

"_About what? It's like," he looked over at the clock beside his hotel bed, "its 2 o'clock in the morning."_

"_I know, but I really need to talk to you."_

"_I'm in room 301." He told her and there was a small pause on the phone because she didn't know what to say after that, "Are you coming?"_

"_Yeah, I'm getting on the elevator now, so I'll see you soon."_

"_Okay, bye." Dolph hung up and wiped his face, jumping up from his bed, going into the bathroom to make sure he looked okay. _

_Considering it was 2 o'clock in the morning, his hair was all messy and his face looked disoriented, but he wanted to fix himself a bit before she knocked on his room door. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and even fixed his hair a bit, and right when he was done, she knocked on his room door._

_He opened it and his eyes widened when he saw her and instantly thought she was the most beautiful thing on the planet, "Uh, hey, AJ."_

"_I really shouldn't be here—"_

"_It's fine, come in." he opened the door wider and she came in, sitting on the edge of his bed, "So…you wanted to talk?"_

"_Yeah, uh," she breathed in and out a little heavily and he bent down in front of her to see if she was okay, "sorry, this is really embarrassing."_

"_No, its fine, is something wrong?"_

"_A lot is wrong, Dolph…earlier today, I kissed you in that locker room and…I felt something. Don't get me wrong, I totally hate your guts for eating my last cinnamon roll, and you best believe you're buying me a new pack like you said, but…I felt something."_

"_What did you feel?"_

_She looked down and saw his crystal blue eyes and almost melted immediately. Even at 2 o'clock in the morning, she felt something for him that she had never felt before, "I felt like I wanted more of that kiss. I wanted—"_

"_You have John…"_

"_John isn't the most romantic guy and, I don't know, just from that one kiss, the way you held my waist…" she stopped herself, pushing off the bed and heading to the door, but she stopped and slid down the wall next to the door instead, "I sound like one of those cliché movies I hate to watch."_

_Dolph sighed and came over, bumping shoulders with her when he slid down the wall to come sit next to her, "For the record, you don't sound stupid if that's what you're thinking."_

"_I do sound stupid, I mean, I basically just poured my heart out to you and you didn't even say anything."_

"_I was trying to let you finish. I wanted to understand exactly how you were feeling."_

_AJ looked up at him, even when they were sitting he was still taller than her, "I've never seen you actually have compassion for someone."_

"_I'm a loving person if you get to know me…you're just not used to me being compassionate towards you."_

"_I guess." AJ smiled and leaned her head onto his shoulder, "So what's the deal, Dolph? What am I going to do?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I just poured my heart out to you, you have to say something or do something so I can react on it. If you tell me I'm crazy, then I'll leave and things will be awkward at work. If you tell me that you felt something too…" her voice trailed off because she honestly didn't know what they'd do._

"_What about John and Nikki? We can't just say 'Oh, hey guys, we kissed in the locker room and decided to be together'."_

"_This is so confusing." She sighed and wrapped one of her arms around his torso and responded with putting one arm around her waist, "Dolph, how do you feel? What's going through your mind?"_

_He stayed quiet for a bit, running his hands through her hair, "I think I'm about to cheat on my girlfriend…"_


End file.
